Alex Pelts wrote:
> You should use netbsd-INSTALL.gz. That one should work for sure.
> 
> Regards, Alex

Thank you again :-)

One small step forward!

I suspect some of the problems I had over the past couple of days were
due to expiring i386 hardware that I was using to boot the restore CDs.

Using the restore CD containing netbsd-INSTALL.gz I am able to get the
installation to apparently complete successfully, but after rebooting, I
get this:

Cobalt Microserver Diagnostics - 'We serve it, you surf it'
Built Tue May 25 15:58:41 PDT 1999

  1.LCD Test................................PASS
  2.Controller Test.........................PASS
  5.Bank 0:.................................16M
  6.Bank 1:.................................0M
  7.Bank 2:.................................0M
  8.Bank 3:.................................0M
  9.Serial Test.............................PASS
10.PCI Expansion Slot....................**EMPTY**
12.IDE Test................................PASS
13.Ethernet Test...........................PASS
16.RTC Test................................PASS
BOOTLOADER ramcode: selected partition /dev/hda1
Decompressing -\|/-\|/-\|/-\| done
Executing bootloader kernel...
Decompressing -/- done.

And then it just stops.

I powered off and followed the steps in the instructions.txt on the
restore CD, i.e. bfd /boot/netbsd.gz at the boot console.

The NFS server was still running, and the Qube happily netbooted and
repeated the entire installation, LOL.  It also failed to cleanly
reboot, as above.

This time I unplugged the network cable from the NFS server, interrupted
the POST, and bfd /boot/netbsd.gz again, then mounted /dev/wd0e and had
a look:

# ls -la
total 2101
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel     1024 Dec 30 18:48 .
drwxr-xr-x  4 root  wheel     1024 Dec 30 18:48 ..
-r--r--r--  5 root  wheel    27838 Dec 30 18:48 boot.gz
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel  1218997 Dec 30 18:48 netbsd-GENERIC.gz
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel   770446 Dec 30 18:48 netbsd.gz
-r--r--r--  5 root  wheel    27838 Dec 30 18:48 vmlinux-nfsroot.gz
-r--r--r--  5 root  wheel    27838 Dec 30 18:48 vmlinux.gz
-r--r--r--  5 root  wheel    27838 Dec 30 18:48 vmlinux_RAQ.gz
-r--r--r--  5 root  wheel    27838 Dec 30 18:48 vmlinux_raq-2800.gz

The netbsd.gz is the same size as the netbsd-INSTALL.gz mentioned above,
so I created a few symlinks (I prefer to keep the original files,
instead of removing them):

# ls -la
total 2101
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  wheel     1024 Dec 30 19:05 .
drwxr-xr-x  4 root  wheel     1024 Dec 30 18:48 ..
-r--r--r--  5 root  wheel    27838 Dec 30 18:48 boot.gz
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel  1218997 Dec 30 18:48 netbsd-GENERIC.gz
-r--r--r--  1 root  wheel   770446 Dec 30 18:48 netbsd.gz
-r--r--r--  5 root  wheel    27838 Dec 30 18:48 vmlinux-nfsroot.gz
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel        0 Dec 30 19:05 vmlinux.gz -> netbsd.gz
-r--r--r--  5 root  wheel    27838 Dec 30 18:48 vmlinux.gz.0
-r--r--r--  5 root  wheel    27838 Dec 30 18:48 vmlinux_RAQ.gz
lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel        0 Dec 30 19:05 vmlinux_raq-2800.gz -> 
netbsd.gz
-r--r--r--  5 root  wheel    27838 Dec 30 18:48 vmlinux_raq-2800.gz.0

Then I rebooted.  I have included the entire boot log as there are
several parts that are puzzling, and I do not know which parts will help
someone to assist me:

Cobalt Microserver Diagnostics - 'We serve it, you surf it'
Built Tue May 25 15:58:41 PDT 1999

  1.LCD Test................................PASS
  2.Controller Test.........................PASS
  5.Bank 0:.................................16M
  6.Bank 1:.................................0M
  7.Bank 2:.................................0M
  8.Bank 3:.................................0M
  9.Serial Test.............................PASS
10.PCI Expansion Slot....................**EMPTY**
12.IDE Test................................PASS
13.Ethernet Test...........................PASS
16.RTC Test................................PASS
BOOTLOADER ramcode: selected partition /dev/hda1
Decompressing -\|/-\|/-\|/-\| done
Executing bootloader kernel...
Decompressing 
-/-\|/-\|/-\|/-\|/-\|/-\|/-\|/- done.
invalid bootinfo (standalone boot?)
[ Kernel symbol table missing! ]
Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
     The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993
     The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.

NetBSD 3.0 (INSTALL) #0: Sun Dec 18 22:40:08 UTC 2005
	builds@b3.netbsd.org:/home/builds/ab/netbsd-3-0-RELEASE/cobalt/200512182
024Z-obj/home/builds/ab/netbsd-3-0-RELEASE/src/sys/arch/cobalt/compile/INSTALL
total memory = 16384 KB
avail memory = 14184 KB
mainbus0 (root)
com0 at mainbus0 addr 0x1c800000 level 3: st16650a, working fifo
com0: console
cpu0 at mainbus0: QED RM5200 CPU (0x28a0) Rev. 10.0 with built-in FPU 
Rev. 10.0
cpu0: 32KB/32B 2-way set-associative L1 Instruction cache, 48 TLB entries
cpu0: 32KB/32B 2-way set-associative write-back L1 Data cache
panel0 at mainbus0 addr 0x1f000000
gt0 at mainbus0 addr 0x14000000
pci0 at gt0
pci0: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, wr/inv ok
pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0: Galileo GT-64111 System Controller, rev 1
tlp0 at pci0 dev 7 function 0: DECchip 21143 Ethernet, pass 4.1
tlp0: interrupting at level 1
tlp0: Ethernet address 00:10:e0:00:d7:58
lxtphy0 at tlp0 phy 1: LXT970 10/100 media interface, rev. 3
lxtphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
pcib0 at pci0 dev 9 function 0
pcib0: vendor 0x1106 product 0x0586, rev 39
viaide0 at pci0 dev 9 function 1
viaide0: VIA Technologies VT82C586 (Apollo VP) ATA33 controller
viaide0: bus-master DMA support present
viaide0: primary channel configured to compatibility mode
viaide0: primary channel interrupting at irq 14
atabus0 at viaide0 channel 0
viaide0: secondary channel configured to compatibility mode
viaide0: secondary channel interrupting at irq 15
atabus1 at viaide0 channel 1
vendor 0x1106 product 0x3038 (USB serial bus, revision 0x02) at pci0 dev 
9 function 2 not configured
tlp1 at pci0 dev 12 function 0: DECchip 21143 Ethernet, pass 4.1
tlp1: interrupting at level 2
tlp1: Ethernet address 00:10:e0:00:d7:3f
lxtphy1 at tlp1 phy 1: LXT970 10/100 media interface, rev. 3
lxtphy1: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
wd0 at atabus0 drive 0: <ST320423A>
wd0: drive supports 32-sector PIO transfers, LBA addressing
wd0: 19536 MB, 39693 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x 40011300 sectors
wd0: 32-bit data port
wd0: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 2, Ultra-DMA mode 4 (Ultra/66)
wd0(viaide0:0:0): using PIO mode 4, Ultra-DMA mode 2 (Ultra/33) (using DMA)
boot device: wd0
root on tlp0
nfs_boot: trying DHCP/BOOTP
nfs_boot: timeout...
nfs_boot: timeout...
nfs_boot: timeout...
cannot mount root, error = 60
root device (default tlp0): wd0a
dump device (default wd0b):
file system (default nfs): ffs
root on wd0a dumps on wd0b
init path (default /sbin/init):
init: trying /sbin/init
swapctl: adding /dev/wd0b as swap device at priority 0
Checking for botched superblock upgrades: done.
Starting file system checks:
/dev/rwd0a: file system is clean; not checking
/dev/rwd0f: file system is clean; not checking
/dev/rwd0g: file system is clean; not checking
Setting tty flags.
Setting sysctl variables:
Starting network.
Hostname: cobalt
Configuring network interfaces: tlp0.
add net default: gateway 192.168.2.1
Adding interface aliases:
Building databases...
Starting syslogd.
Checking for core dump...
savecore: no core dump
Mounting all filesystems...
Clearing /tmp.
Checking quotas: done.
Setting securelevel: kern.securelevel: 0 -> 1
Starting virecover.
Starting local daemons:.
Updating motd.
Starting sshd.
Starting cron.
Starting paneld.
Dec 30 19:26:35 cobalt paneld[531]: cannot attach to device hd44780, 
node /dev/lcd
Fri Dec 30 19:26:35 UTC 2005

NetBSD/cobalt (cobalt) (tty00)

login:

First, immediately after decompressing, it says:

invalid bootinfo (standalone boot?)
[ Kernel symbol table missing! ]

Hopefully these are just warnings.  But, a little further down:

boot device: wd0
root on tlp0
nfs_boot: trying DHCP/BOOTP
nfs_boot: timeout...
nfs_boot: timeout...
nfs_boot: timeout...
cannot mount root, error = 60

AFAIK error 60 is timeout, as I would expect as the NFS server is
unplugged.  Why is it trying to netboot (to get the root device from
NFS?), and how does one change that?

It I tell it that the root device is wd0a (etc.) the boot process seems
to finish successfully, and I can ssh into the Qube from another machine
(I setup /etc/ifconfig.tlp0 and /etc/rc.conf before rebooting earlier).

Comments or suggestions welcome :)

Thanx

Rowdy